An example of a portion of a conventional aircraft brake is illustrated in FIG. 4. This aircraft brake includes a plurality of spaced, parallel, stator disks 220 mounted on a torque tube 204. The torque tube 204 is connected to a housing which in turn is mounted to an aircraft (not illustrated). A plurality of parallel spaced rotor disks 206 connected to a wheel 208 project into the spaces between the stator disks 220 and rotate freely between the stator disks 220 when the aircraft wheel 208 rotates. A housing 210 mounted on the torque tube 204 supports one or more pistons 212, which may be electrically or hydraulically actuated, and that can be controllably driven against an outermost stator disk 214 to force the rotor and stator disks 202, 206 together to create friction and slow or stop the rotation of the wheel 208. An assembly of rotor and stator disks may be referred to as a “brake stack,” and driving pistons against a brake stack to perform a braking operation may be referred to as compressing the brake stack.
It is known to provide a passageway 216 in the torque tube 204 for receiving a temperature probe 218 so that a temperature near the disk stack can be measured. The diameter of the temperature probe is generally selected to be slightly smaller than the diameter of the passageway 216 to facilitate the insertion and removal of the temperature probe. These temperature probes are generally mounted to the piston housing using a flange 222 at an outer end thereof and extend in a cantilevered manner into the passageway. While the gap between the temperature probe and the passageway is small, enough clearance remains so that the temperature probe can move and vibrate and thus flex repeatedly along its length under normal operating conditions. It has been found that these repeated vibrations cause the temperature probe to fail due to high cycle fatigue.
An interference fit between the temperature probe and the passageway might address this vibration problem, but given the length and other characteristics of the temperature probe, it would be difficult or impossible to mount a temperature probe in this manner. This vibration problem has been addressed in the past by wrapping the temperature probe with a metal or alloy mesh, a short section of which is illustrated as element 200 in FIG. 4, before inserting the temperature probe into the passageway. While this mesh reduces vibration, the high temperatures and conditions under which the probe operates have damaged the mesh and made the temperature probe difficult to remove from the passageway. In some cases, galvanic corrosion between the mesh and the passageway has bound the temperature probe in the passageway so tightly that the torque tube and temperature probe are both damaged during the removal process. It would therefore be desirable to provide a temperature probe that does not suffer from vibration induced cycle fatigue and which can be removed from a torque tube without damage.